2023-09-27 04:00:13
Is Hunka a Nazi? Trudeau and Zelensky Reproduction social networks/Twitter – @JustinTrudeau The president of Ukraine, Volodmir Zelensky, paid an official visit to Canada after his participation in the UN general summit. The meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau included a commitment in the country’s Parliament. The agenda would be just another protocol commitment for the trip, but it ended up turning into an embarrassing episode for both the Ukrainian leader and the Canadian prime minister. See also International Eight people are hospitalized because of severe turbulence on flight to Florida International Biden joins strikers and asks for raises for US auto workers International Korean peninsula is ‘on the brink of nuclear war’, says North Korea at the UN The same session in which Zelensky was present took a moment to pay tribute to the Ukrainian Yaroslav Hunka, aged 98, who fought in the Second World War. The Speaker of the Parliament of Canada, Anthony Rota, referred to Yaroslav Hunka as a “hero” and everyone present at the session stood up to applaud Hunka. On the same day, however, the local Jewish organization Cija (Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs) took a stance on the honor and accused Hunka of being a Nazi and having contributed to the genocide of Jews. “We are deeply concerned and disturbed that a Ukrainian veteran of the infamous 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the Nazi SS – who actively participated in the genocide of the Jews – received a standing ovation in the Canadian Parliament,” Cija said. In the days following the incident, Rota publicly apologized for the gaffe, while Trudeau said honoring a Nazi was “inadmissible.” Zelensky was silent. Nazi hero? Although the division Hunka was a part of fought under Nazi command, recruits from Ukraine had little involvement with the war outside their home country. Hunka, born in the village of Urman in the province of Ternopil, served in the 14th Grenadier Division of the Waffen-SS “Galicia” during the Second World War. This division was formed on April 28, 1943, and consisted mainly of Ukrainian volunteers operating under German command. The unit was renamed the 1st Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian National Army before surrendering to the Western Allies in 1945. In 2011, Hunka said in a blog post that his main motivation was to fight Soviet Union troops, who had controlled Western Ukraine since 1939. He also remembers that friends and acquaintances of his were sent to Siberia by the Soviet secret police after the Soviet occupation. He and other young Ukrainians imagined that if Germany helped them, they would be free from socialist tyranny. Ultimately, there was a German occupation of the region in 1941, but the expected freedom did not come. Historical accounts indicate that most Ukrainians who joined the 1st Ukrainian Division during World War II were not motivated by a desire to assist Hitler and the Nazis in conquest and genocide. Hunka remembers that at least his compatriots weren’t being sent to Siberia. So, when he was 19, he and other school friends decided to enlist to fight against the Soviet army. Far from being an ideological Nazi, the teenage Hunka, like his compatriots at the time, dreamed of an independent Ukraine and said he had done what he thought was best for his nation. With the presence of the USA, NATO carries out military training near Ukraine to show firepower to Russia
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